Outspoken Irish pundit Neil Francis has labelled Jonathan Davies a 'Lion personified' just four years after the Welsh centre was seen as public enemy No.1 in the Emerald Isle when replacing Brian O'Driscoll in the third Test decider in Australia.

Scarlets centre Jonathan Davies was voted the Lions player of the series following a long list of Welsh stars to earn the accolade with Leigh Halfpenny (2013) and Jamie Roberts among others to lift the awards.

And writing in the Irish Independent former lock Francis, who earned 36 caps for his country, said Davies' achievements were not only a personal feat but a triumph for the Guinness Pro12 tournament.

"If ever the will of the Lions could be personified, you could not look any further than Welsh centre Jonathan Davies," wrote Francis.

"On Saturday, February 11, 2017, coming up to 7pm, Davies produced one of the worst kicks in rugby history.

"England’s George Ford gathered the ball and two quality passes later Elliot Daly scored in the left corner to win the game at the death.

"Hard to recover from that sort of trauma. Davies stuck to his task and rediscovered himself and some form and he won the Pro12 Championship in May playing some sparkling rugby with the Scarlets.

"You may pooh-pooh the Pro12 but it is important to note that there were a dozen Pro12 players who took to the field in Eden Park.

"Davies put in a number of telling tackles - two on Jordie Barrett at vital moments. For me, Davies was the Lions’ player of the series.

"You can point to a number of other players, you can point also to the clever 9-10-12 axis that negotiated the Lions through this series. But Davies is also a very clever player, and a combination of cleverness and determination is a very difficult obstacle to overcome."

And reflecting on Saturday's 15-15 draw in Auckland which saw the Lions have a first series stalemate since 1955, Francis added: "The All Blacks had at least six clear try-scoring chances in the first half alone, but only took two. If they had been a little bit more clinical they could have sailed away into the distance.

"Julian Savea, well short of Test match condition or form, took his eyes off the ball in the fourth minute on a run-in try. All he had to do was catch it the way he normally does.

"Steve Hansen will be talking back to his Rice Krispies. Privately, this will be considered a failure. Aspirations of a 3-0 sweep would have been large on his list of priorities. A 2-1 victory in the series was an absolute minimum. A shared series is failure and that will be hard for him to reconcile.

"Hansen must also look over at Pieter de Villiers, the former South African coach, who incredibly has a series win over the Lions . . . there is no justice in this world.

"The All Blacks were unquestionably the more skilful side over the series but just not good enough when it was there for them, and the Lions showed unflinching courage to share the series. They can justifiably claim more than the bragging rights."